Woodchucks Fall in Ninth Inning to Fond du Lac

WAUSAU, WI – Five ninth-inning runs made the difference as the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders defeated the Wisconsin Woodchucks 6-2 at Athletic Park Wednesday night.

The Chucks and Spiders now sit tied atop the Great Lakes West Division with 20-11 records. Five games remain in the first half of the season, of which the division leader at that point earns an automatic Northwoods League playoff berth.

The Woodchucks scored first in the fifth, as a Jose Izarra bloop single dropped in shallow right field to score Antonio Valdez.

The Dock Spiders answered with an RBI single in the seventh, before Jacob Burke scored for the Woodchucks as the home plate umpire called catcher’s interference on the sequence in the bottom of the seventh.

A light rain fell over Athletic Park in the middle of the game, but play was never halted. The Chucks had been involved in four rain delays in their past 10 games.

Top Performers

Starting pitcher Osvaldo Mendez pitched five and one third innings, allowing no runs, two hits and three walks while striking out six.

Antonio Valdez was 1-2 with a double, a run, an RBI and sacrifice bunt.

Next Up

The Woodchucks face the Dock Spiders again Thursday at 6:35 p.m. The first inside Athletic Park 500 fans will receive a special Woodchucks T-shirt courtesy of Ascension!

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The Wisconsin Woodchucks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 27-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 200 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.woodchucks.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Woodchucks as your favorite team.